6 months after I met with Liza Hearn, it was finally time for the trial. We had held Henry off as long as possible, but we had all the evidence we could get and nowhere else to look.

The last 6 months hadn't just been late nights and clandestine meetings, however. Serena turned four, and we threw a big party, with both her friends and Annie and Auggie. Madison hadn't been able to fly out, but Serena had fun talking to her on the phone, which she was getting better at. I remember that night, after all her friends had gone home, Maddy had called and asked to talk to Serena. Serena sat in Auggie's lap on the couch, talking excitedly into the phone. She told Maddy about all her friends and the fun games they played. She probably talked her ear off for close to an hour. And Madison let her, loving every second of it. When they were done talking, I had a quick conversation with my sister, and the first thing she said was, "Ohmygod, you have the most precious child alive. I want one."

I had laughed and walked into the next room, so Serena and Auggie couldn't hear me.

"You know what's even cuter? She's been sitting in Auggie's lap the whole time. He's just been stroking her hair and smiling at all the cute things she says."

"You have such a perfect little makeshift family," Madison had laughed. But she was right. We are pretty blessed. I say it a lot, maybe too much, but it's true.

There had been some interesting developments in Annie's life in the last 6 months, too. She dated a guy for 3 months that she barely told me anything about. She said she didn't want to work so hard to hide things and make up excuses, so he didn't last too long. And then she moved out of her sister's house after telling Danielle what she really did for work. Since then Annie had become a regular fixture at our house. For someone who likes to travel alone often and preferred not to get attached to people, I think she found her apartment a little too lonely. It worked out fine for us, though. Serena practically had a live-in playmate, which gave me and Arthur more time to work on the case.

I wanted to help give Annie on what to do about her sister, but I was hardly one to talk. Madison had no idea what I did every day. I couldn't very well give Annie advice when I had never been brave enough to do what she did. It had consequences, though. Annie had barely spoken to Danielle in the last 2 months. I saw the pain it caused her, the distractions she kept herself busy with.

Unfortunately, I'd been busy too. The trial was in just a few days, and there nothing left for us to do. I hadn't gone into work all week, letting Auggie spend the week in charge. It was one of his last weeks in the DPD, too. At the end of the month, he would be the new OCA. Overt, and as he liked to joke, "the feel-good hit of the summer."

While Auggie took over for the week, I spent all my time with my baby. Well, she wasn't really a baby anymore. Every moment I spent with Serena kept me calm, while every moment Arthur spent in the office, burying himself in work, kept him levelheaded enough. He was never good at being calm or sitting still.

Tonight, I tucked Serena in later than normal. We had been watching Tangled, and instead of stopping it and having her finish in the morning like I usually do, I let her stay up till almost 9. I just didn't want to get off the couch. She had been snuggled up in my lap, and it was therapeutic. I just wanted to hold my little girl as close to me as possible, to remind me not to give up on my hopes for how the trial would end up. I had become kind of sappy in that way.

Once Serena was in bed, I made my way upstairs and found Arthur in his study, his desk covered in folders and loose sheets of paper. I stifled a small laugh before walking up to him and sitting in his lap. He smiled and looked at me with tired eyes. The poor man needed some sleep. And reassurance.

I kissed his lips softly. "You know, I've been thinking about what Henry said when we visited him months ago…," I started. Arthur shook his head.

"No, honey, don't even think about him. Let me do the worrying, " he said, rubbing my arm.

"I was just going to say that he was wrong. There hasn't been a moment when I haven't trusted you," I finished. Arthur grinned and let out a big laugh.

"Really? What about when you used Agency resources to track my calls and account? Or had Annie spy on me in Berlin?"

I blushed. "Those were times when I was skeptical and scared I was losing you. Even if I didn't fully trust you, a little part of me always said, 'He loves you, you have nothing to worry about.'"

Arthur smiled again and stroked my hair.

"Glad to hear it."

We were both silent for a few minutes, lost in thought. Arthur was frowning and staring at a painting on the wall, and I could tell he was going over the worst-case scenario. I put my hand on his chin and tilted it back towards me, so he was looking into my eyes.

"Honey, it's going to be okay."

He nodded. "I know. I'm just worried about you and Serena. If Henry walks, his vendetta against me will have multiplied, and he'll be able to do whatever he wants. And we've seen what he can do."

"You have nothing to worry about," I promised him, hugging him. He kissed my cheek and wrapped his arms around me.

"I hope you're right," he whispered.

3 days later, it was D-Day. Serena was with her babysitter at home, and Arthur, Annie, Auggie and I were at the Agency. Due to the still-successful efforts made by the CIA to keep Henry's case under wraps (it was very bad publicity to have a once main player in our organization be the source of a major leak), the public had no idea that Henry Wilcox was on trial. Which meant everything needed to happen behind closed doors.

I smoothed the skirt of my black sleeveless high-necked dress. Annie fiddled with her watch. Auggie kept clicking his laser cane on and off, and Arthur hadn't stopped pacing. We all sat in Arthur's office, waiting for a verdict. I had begged Arthur not to sit in on the trial, and apparently made a good case, because he had agreed. I just felt that if he was sitting there, it make everything worse. Henry would just shoot him smug looks and push him to his breaking point. How those two men once got along is a mystery to me.

We had the option to watch the trial, as it was being recorded. It was playing on a large tv on Arthur's wall but we had muted it and none of us were watching the screen. If it didn't turn out well, even watching a video of it would be painful.

I went over to Arthur desk and opened the top drawer, taking out the bottle of Ibuprofen I had put there this morning. I knew I would need it. Taking a large sip of water from a the water bottle I had also put in the drawer, I swallowed 4 of the pills. Arthur gave me a warning look, like he used to when I took any amount of Ibuprofen at all during my pregnancy. I just gave him a neutral stare back, daring him to say something. From the other side of the room, Annie sighed noisily. We were all on edge.

Finally, Auggie broke the silence.

"This is crazy," he said, somewhat gently. "It's been what, 2 hours? 3?"

"3 hours and 12 minutes," Annie said quietly, looking at her watch. I threw my head back and groaned, then sat down in a chair at Arthur's conference table. Arthur stopped pacing and came to sit next to me. He lightly touched a finger to my wedding ring and I took his hand and squeezed it.

"Wait…," Annie said, jumping up from her spot on the ground near the tv. She'd been the only one stealing occasional glances at it. "I think it's over."

Arthur and I turned towards the tv and sure enough, Henry Wilcox was standing up and being led out of the room by his lawyer and two other agents. The way his head was tilted, it was hard to see his face and the expression on it. Arthur made a break for the door of his office, walking towards it quickly and pulling it open. I was torn between following him and waiting here. I chose to follow and Annie was right behind me, holding Auggie's hand and bringing him with us. We walked in a line like that down the hallways and to the elevator; Arthur, with me about 4 yards behind, and Annie and Auggie just a couple feet behind me. I jogged a few feet, my heels clacking noisily on the marble floor, to catch the same elevator as Arthur.

Annie signaled to me that she and Auggie would get on the next elevator as the doors closed. Arthur and I rode the elevator in silence, but just before it hit the 2nd floor, where Henry was likely to be just exiting the conference room used for the trial, I turned to Arthur and asked him, "Are you ready for this?"

He turned to me and nodded, then took my hand. The doors opened and we stepped off the elevator together. The floor was silent, but the sound of footsteps coming from a corridor on our right suggested we would soon get our answer.

And just seconds later, Henry rounded the corner, flanked by his lawyer and a few agents playing security-guard-for-the-day. When Henry saw us, he narrowed his eyes like a venomous snake.

Arthur chuckled. "How'd the trial go?"

I heard the ping of the elevator and turned my head around long enough to see Annie and Auggie step onto the floor. They took a few steps closer but were smart enough to maintain their distance.

Henry tried to keep a semi-straight face, but he couldn't totally erase his hatred for Arthur from his hardened features. "Congratulations, Arthur. You have fun? I hope you're ready for your life to get very miserable."

Arthur's face went cold. "How many years did you get, huh? Fifteen or twenty?"

"Twenty five," Henry spat at him. A small smile crept onto Arthur's face.

"And no parole, right? Good, all that research and digging was worth it."

Henry snarled. "You've been working this case the whole time?"

Arthur nodded and took a few steps toward Henry, dropping my hand. I was getting a bad feeling from these two.

"Of course. You're being brought down and I don't get to help take you apart? No chance in hell."

Henry smiled his smug smile. "My sources told me you weren't allowed to touch it due to certain..," he glanced at me, then back to Arthur. "… circumstances."

Arthur took another step towards Henry.

"What are you implying?"

Henry laughed. "Oh, you still haven't told her? This is too good." He looked at me again. "Joan, has your husband not told you yet? I was right after all, you can't trust family."

I glared at him, and his smug smile just grew. "Then again, I don't think your daughter will have what it takes for the Agency when the time comes. She seems too…. Nice. The perfect little mommy's girl." He said "nice" like it was a dirty word, and my blood turned cold. What did he know about Serena?

I could see the look of pure hate on Arthur's face, but I did not expect what happened next. Arthur lunged for Henry and Henry fought back, punching him in the jaw. Annie gasped as the two men wrestled each other to the floor. Kicking and pulling and throwing jabs wherever they could. I looked at the agents who had been restraining Henry but they just watched.

"Aren't you going to do something?," I yelled at them. Once of them, a guy who barely looked old enough to have graduated college, just shrugged. Appalling. They were just going to watch Henry and Arthur beat the crap out of each other?

"That's it," I said, kicking my heels off towards Annie. I motioned to Henry's lawyer to grab his client, and he nodded. We went in at the same time, me pulling Arthur back and the lawyer doing the same with Henry. The second I had Arthur up, I turned around and went for Henry, using a Krav Maga tactic I had learned a long time ago to elbow him in the throat. He groaned and crumpled to the ground.

"That's for everything you've put my family through, you son of a bitch," I seethed. Henry just grumbled something inaudible from the ground, clutching his throat. I turned back around and walked over to where Arthur, Annie, and Auggie stood. Annie's jaw was open as wide as it could go.

"Joan…"

I shook my head and exhaled. "Let's get out of here," I said, picking my shoes up with one hand and placing the other on Arthur's upper arm. He smiled at me and we walked to the elevator.

"Wait," Auggie called after us. "You wait until I'm blind to punch a guy?"

I laughed and looked back at him. "Auggie, you've seen me do Krav Maga."

"Yeah, in training," he said with a grin. "But not like that."

"How do you know it was all that exciting?"

"Well, first, I heard it. And second, Annie almost cut off circulation in my hand."

I laughed again. "Goodnight, Auggie." I looked at Annie, who mouthed, 'Call me.' I nodded. "Goodnight, Annie."

When Arthur and I were in the car, him in the passenger seat, he turned to me. "That was some punch," he said with a small grin. I looked at his face. He had cuts and scrapes all over it (Henry had still been wearing handcuffs on one wrist) and his lip was very bloody. I just shook my head.

"Not too bad yourself. What you did was very stupid, Arthur. What you did was noble, but… it was still a bad idea. We are not done talking about this. But for now, I'm going to cut you some slack, because you look pretty beat up."

"You should see the other guy," Arthur said quietly, rubbing his jaw. I pursed my lips and tried not to break out laughing. Instead, I looked at the clock on the car's dashboard. Crap, it was almost 11 pm. I guess the plus side was that Serena wouldn't see Arthur like this.

When we got home, I insisted on going inside and paying the babysitter so she would leave before Arthur came into the house. She thought we were busy lawyers, and most lawyers didn't come home looking like they had been in a nasty bar fight. Once she was gone, I went back to the garage and helped Arthur up the stairs quietly, not wanting to wake Serena. He protested, saying he didn't need help, but I knew that even though he was in fairly good shape, he couldn't take a couple blows to the ribs without feeling some serious pain after.

I sat him down on our bed and helped him undo his tie and take off his shoes. I tossed him an old gray t-shirt and a pair of plaid pajama pants, while I put on an old Penn State shirt and some pink sweatpants. All of the little cuts on his face were still bleeding slightly, so I wet a washcloth in the bathroom sink and brought back into the bedroom. We sat on the bed together and I pressed the cloth to his face.

"Joan, I want to get something off my chest."

"If you feel you need to puke, honey, go ahead, I brought the trash can to your side of the bed. I love you, and I still think you are a strong, able man, but you went through a pretty rough beating," I teased, dabbing at his face. He smiled.

"No, about what Henry said. About family."

I sighed and put the washcloth down, scooting a little closer to Arthur. I clasped my hands and let them sit in my lap.

"What?"

"He was talking about Jai. Just a few hours after your meeting with Liza, he called me and said he could convince Liza to help us. He knew she was working with Henry for a while before Henry was exposed, but didn't want to say anything. She called him in London right after you met with her, and he urged her to help with the case."

"Thank you for telling me," I whispered, my eyes wandering to a picture on my nightstand of me and Arthur with Serena in the hospital.

"Whats wrong?," Arthur asked. He frowned.

"The way Henry mentioned Serena so casually, like… like he knew her. I just don't know how. I mean, what if he's watching her, or something? Watching us?"

"Ahh," Arthur said. He pulled me into his arms. "Leave that to me. I'll have an answer for you by tomorrow afternoon."

"Okay," I sighed. We climbed under the covers and I snuggled up against Arthur's side, being mindful of any injuries he might have. He chuckled softly and put his arm around my shoulder, his hand resting on my shoulder.

"I love you," he whispered as I closed my eyes.

"Me too," I whispered back.

xxxxxxxxxx

AN: Doc Manager was being weird, hence my note being at the end. So sorry this took like, what, 3 weeks? All I can really say is never take chemistry in high school. Total time suck, very confusing when you're not a big math person. Anyway, Uberlin gave me an awesome burst of inspiration, so expect the last 2 chapters to be up soon! Thank you to all of the readers who have stuck with me throughout this story, and all my annoyingly spaced-out updates. Enjoy and review! ;)